Abstract
Ontological bearing, or the orientation toward what is, is simultaneously both an intuitive-corporeal grasp of the cosmological condition of organismic presence, as well as an immanent ethicality with regard to presence—the concurrent incidence of freedom and truth. Therefore one might infer that the necessary and sufficient condition of moral action—such as, for example, education—is the quest for, and the co-arising of freedom and truth, which results in the alignment of the microcosm with the macrocosm, or the collective psyche with the cosmic soma. From essence we derive bearing, and from such bearing, ethical action; and herein lies the relevance of ontological study for education. The highest ethical and educational aim, across cultures, is to be a light unto oneself. But this “light” correctly understood is not something metaphoric, personal, cultural, temporal, or epistemic. It is rather an ontological luminescence, an intuition of the numinous, directly and corporeally realized. It is the unprecedented turn of the being toward Being. Thus ethics, ontology, and education are seen to be a tightly knit bloc of existentials.
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Notes
- 1.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32, The Bible, King James Version.
- 2.
The reference is to the great ship Titanic which went down on its maiden voyage.
- 3.
For the psyche attuned to objects, events, and outer phenomena in general, the pedagogic turn to is-ness requires considerable negative labor (not acquisition but shedding).
- 4.
Isha Upanishad, one of the oldest of the sacred texts, is part of what is known as Vedanta philosophy of the ancient Hindus. The first line of the verse reads “Isha vasyamidam sarvam, yat kimcha jagatyam jagat…” cited in Sri Aurobindo, The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Vol. 17 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2003), p. 5.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 95.
- 6.
We might speak of energy pulses, but energy itself has no further description in science. It remains a transcendental in scientific discourse.
- 7.
In the Sanskritic tradition this was often referred to as the Sankhya yoga or jnana marga or path of discernment. As one matured in this path the inner nature or cosmic essence was revealed.
- 8.
Given the human penchant for organizing, it is not a surprise that institutionalized belief often grows up in and around profound ontological inquiry. The task is to hermeneutically revisit the source, pushing aside the positivistic outgrowths and belief systems.
- 9.
Erich Fromm, On Being Human (New York: Continuum Publishing Group, 2005), p. 21.
- 10.
Maulana Karenga, Maat: The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt (New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 8.
- 11.
E. M. Cope, Plato’s Gorgias (London: Bell and Daldy, 1864), p. lxxii.
- 12.
Dylan van der Schyff, On Being and Becoming: Ancient Greek Ethics and Ontology in the twenty-first Century (Burnaby, British Columbia: Simon Fraser University, 2010), p. 27.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 36.
- 14.
The other major schools are Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisesika, and Vedanta (Purva and Uttara Mimamsa).
- 15.
Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, Vol. 13 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1976), p. 11.
- 16.
“Dhumena avriyate vahnir, yathadarsho malena cha/Yatholbenavrto garbha, tatha tenedam avrtam.” The Bhagwad Gita 3:38.
- 17.
Luke 24:27, 30–33, The Bible, King James Version.
- 18.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (New York: Routledge, 1945), p. xi.
- 19.
Emmanuel Levinas, Transl. Alphonso Lingis, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority (Boston: Martinus Nijhoff: 1979), p. 22.
- 20.
Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 8 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960), p. 112.
- 21.
Pierre Bourdieu, The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger (Transl.) Peter Collier (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991), pp. 21–22.
- 22.
Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989).
- 23.
See for example, the great grammarian Panini’s approach to Sanskrit sabda which he says flows initially from essential (noumenal) vibration called nāda ; again consider the Book of Genesis: “In the beginning was the Word…” This Word is not something arbitrary but subsequently presupposed in all of Creation.
- 24.
Giorgio Agamben, Potentialities: Collected Essays in Philosophy (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), Editor’s introduction.
- 25.
Ibid., p. 253.
- 26.
Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society, p. 110.
- 27.
Ibid., p. 111.
- 28.
Ibid., p. 113.
Bibliography
Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 8 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960).
Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989).
Dylan van der Schyff, On Being and Becoming: Ancient Greek Ethics and Ontology in the twenty-first Century (Burnaby, British Columbia: Simon Fraser University, 2010).
E. M. Cope, Plato’s Gorgias (London: Bell and Daldy, 1864).
Emmanuel Levinas, Transl. Alphonso Lingis, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority (Boston: Martinus Nijhoff: 1979).
Erich Fromm, On Being Human (New York: Continuum Publishing Group, 2005).
Giorgio Agamben, Potentialities: Collected Essays in Philosophy (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999).
Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (New York: Harper & Row, 1971).
Maulana Karenga, Maat: The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt (New York: Routledge, 2004).
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (New York: Routledge, 1945).
Pierre Bourdieu, The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger (Transl.) Peter Collier (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991).
Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, Vol. 13 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1976).
Sri Aurobindo, The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Vol. 17 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2003).
The Bhagwad Gita. English Edition (New Delhi: BBT Publishers, 2015).
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Roy, K. (2019). Introduction: Education and Ontological Amnesia. In: Education and the Ontological Question. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11178-6_1
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